The front doors open wide for ease of entry and exit however, the rear doors don’t open that wide and we found it awkward to fit our child seat.

Ride and Handling

The Mitsubishi ASX offers a smooth but taut ride and is an excellent cruiser, with more than enough power in 6th gear, for swift and safe overtakes. It is very well behaved on minor road and twisting lanes, showing a fair amount of agility and poise - that in turn creates a relaxed but confident drive.

Mitsubishi has used Electric Power Steering in the ASX as it reduces engine loads and represents a further aid to fuel economy, when compared to hydraulic systems. As you would expect of Mitsubishi the steering exceptionally well-weighted and offers excellent feedback.

Regenerative braking or Generation Control System (GCS) as Mitsubishi calls it, takes kinetic energy that would otherwise be lost during braking or deceleration and converts it into electricity, which is then fed back into the battery. This is a single, conventional battery rather than the bank of Nickel Metal Hydride cells that are found in some hybrids. The energy can then be used when the car is idling, accelerating or simply cruising; thus reducing power generation. This is another way of lowering the fuel consumption and, when the GCS is in action, the alternator is off - it keeps spinning but doesn't put out a charge.

The Mitsubishi ASX is available in 2WD and 4WD versions with the 1.8-litre DID turbo diesel engine. Shared with the Outlander the ASX four-wheel drive system is very simple to operate twisting a dial is all that is necessary to operate all four wheels when needed. In 2WD mode power is only available to the front wheels for better for fuel economy. In 4WD AUTO mode power is controlled to allow progression and steering on rough tracks and in adverse weather conditions. In 4WD LOCK mode approx 1.5 times the torque of 4WD AUTO mode is transferred to the rear wheels to improve traction on poor surfaces or when stuck.

Our test vehicle was two-wheel drive and we found that the ASX did struggle for grip sometimes when pulling out of road junctions with a bit more power. The 4WD versions are not as quick as the 2WD model being heavier due to the addition of the 4WD drive train.

Ease of Use

The front doors open wide for ease of entry and exit however, the rear doors don’t open that wide and we found it awkward to fit our child seat. The driving position is very good and the front seats have long squabs and tall backs that encourage good posture for a more relaxed drive although we were disappointed to find that the seat back adjustment was via a lever and not a dial which we find offers a more precise seating position. The steering wheel is adjustable for both reach and rake and head and leg room in both the front and rear is good and rear seat passengers get an armrest.

The rear seats offer a split/fold feature, ski hatch and easy-fold rear cushion provides massive interior flexibility and useful stowage solutions include a 30 litre under floor tray in the boot which offers a capacity of 442 litres with the rear seats in position. With the rear seats folded the ASX offers a maximum of 1,193 litres of luggage space.

All round vision was very good and rear parking sensors, rain-sensing wipers, automatic headlights, cruise control and keyless operation are standard on the ASX 3 model.